Be Like People They Trust

Description

Act like someone that the person would naturally trust. People you can
emulate include:

People with formal authority, including police, priests and managers.

People they admire and who they would like to emulate, from activists to
rock stars.

People who are similar to them in some way, for example with similar
interests, background and so on.

In emulating these other people, you can dress in similar ways, you can act
like the similar person (for example with similar
body language and voice patterns),
you can show you do similar things to admired people, and so on.

Example

A person acts with confidence and knowledge of the law, such
that the target person thinks they may be a lawyer, who hence does not challenge
their knowledge of the law.

A person persuading a marketer talks about their work with
well-known marketing companies.

Discussion

When you act in ways that reminds the other person of somebody else, they
will classify you as being very much like that person and will assume you have
most attributes in common, including trustworthiness.

Be careful about acting too much like other people. Avoid claiming you are a
police officer or other role where you could get into trouble for doing so. Also
avoid claims that could later be disproven. The key is to act like such
people so you trigger the appropriate unconscious response in the target person.

So what?

Use this with caution to gain trust. If you try to be who you are not, then
you will eventually be found out, so this may be appropriate only in the short
term.

Be subtle, so you have plausible deniability should they challenge you.